If you haven't yet bought your gear here are a few items that are comparable to Novice mummys list: Icarus 500 £108.99 - you'll probably need something bigger plus this one has all the sleeping next to each other and I'm not sure I could put it up on my own (yet) Tent is a personal preference but as already mentioned best go for a 6 or 8 man tent Footprint (nearlynewtents on ebay) £18.99 - really useful - in a wet New Forest meant we didn't have a really messy tent to roll up A tarp can be a cheaper alternative cut to size Carpet (outdoor clearance, cut down from a bigger one) £20.00 - you could use a few picnic blankets and tbh the carpet was bulky and you'd probably need the car space. We used a plastic backed picnic blanket as a door mat, they had small ones in poundland not so long back. £4 picnic rugs at Tesco Picnic table stool thingummy (Halfords) £17.99 - great, seats 4, you could just add a fold up /stool chair for table for all 5 of you £15 at Tesco - would advise heaviest person on extra chair and even weight between the 4 (one older and one younger on each side) as it can see-saw a bit. Stove & 3 gas cannisters (Halfords) £12.47 - one of those suitcase type stoves, only 1 burner but by leaving par boiled rice & pasta in the cooking water covered while heating meals it cooked through and as we'd brought from home meant you could easily cook a "proper" meal. One gas cannister boiled about 4 or 5 mini kettles for teas, 2 fry ups, 1 lunch and 2 dinners. Stove & 1 canister at Halfords £9.37 or complete cookset with 1 canister £17.64 (includes extra 20% off) Lounging about chairs (tesco / b&q) £21.23 - not essential Kids airbeds (tesco) £13.44 - smaller than a single so could be useful for your younger 2 although a normal single airbed is the same price £5 each at Tesco or if you fancy cheap campbeds for the kids (or even yourself and older kids) they are only £8 each at Halfords (includes extra 20% off) We have this style campbeds with sims and work well for us although have seen others not get on with them.Also campbeds don't need blowing up so no need for a pump or worry about it deflating during the night. Kids sleeping bag for son#1 (carboot) £7.00 - little sod didn't go in it and came in with us! Argos £8 sleeping bags (includes extra 20% off until 25/6) Coolbox & blocks (argos / outdoor clearance) £16.99 - really good, we managed to keep milk, bacon, eggs, yoghurts, ham and also 1 lunch and 2 dinners and fruit all cool from Friday - Sunday lunchtimes even though it stated it was a 20 hour box. These are ok to buy secondhand (not a lot to go wrong if undamaged), I managed to get an Igloo maxcold at a carboot for £10 and some 1000ml coolblocks for 50p each check gumtree and all local free ad sites if you can't get to any carboots (or even if you can )
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